in praise of RockBox

I

itzjusme101

New member
RockBox is custom firmware that runs on many portable music players, including (older) iPod, Archos, SanDisk, iriver, and quite a few others.

i installed it last night on my old fifth-gen iPod Video. installing it was just like installing a program. i plugged in my ipod, ran the app, and waited for it to finish. it let me choose a theme during the install - most are ugly, but i found one that appealed to me.

Rockbox Themes - rayboradio_OB Theme

booting into the new firmware reveals a completely unfamiliar interface. music is accessed either by browsing the filesystem, or by building a database from tags. no software is required to add music to the iPod with RockBox on it. just drag and drop wherever. i keep my music organized, so i don't bother with the database.

now here's the real treat - my ipod now plays flac, and it sounRAB absolutely phenomenal! RockBox gives me much greater EQ control. i can roll the bass all the way up without any distortion. it drives my headphones (mid-range Sennheiser earbuRAB) much better than the old iPod firmware. music is stronger, crisper, and more dimensional than ever before.

RockBox also allows for cross-fading, replay gain, and lots of other nice musical things.

it also comes packed with crap like apps and games - you can even play Doom on the thing - but i really don't care much about that sort of thing.

i've been upgrading my collection to flac, and RockBox is a lifesaver. no more converting/syncing with foobar to add/remove music. just plug it in, drag it over, and it's good to go.

oh yeah i almost forgot - it's 100% open source :D

check it out!
Rockbox - Open Source Jukebox Firmware
 
This sounRAB pretty cool, might be just the incentive I need to never get rid of my 5th-gen iPod. It's not like I've ever had any issues with it but damn, something like that would make it look awesome.
 
also it's totally non-intrusive. official Apple firmware is still there and you can boot into it whenever you want. if you hate RockBox, just uninstall it :)
 
Rockbox is great firmware. Just remeraber to charge your ipod everyday because it drains the batteries quicker.

The ability to play any format more than makes up for that though. The custom themes are also fun to play around with.
 
yeah i've definitely noticed a drop in the battery life. i attribute that to flac playback - more disc disc and less cache...

but yes, it's worth the cost! it's great not having to use software to send music. stupid apple itunes database ****e.
 
Hmm sounRAB cool, and works with my 2nd gen Nano.

Does it take a lot of space, though? Mine's almost always maxed out as it is, I'd hate to reduce my available space.
 
not at all. you can do a minimal install - skip the games and extra fonts and all that crap - and it'll just be a few megs. you won't even notice it at all.
 
cool!

that's a nice theme. i have not tried very many yet. they mostly look like crap.
great features though. i love the replay gain and flac support. and it's so easy to change the music now. i'm definitely keeping it on mine...
 
It was weird, I installed it twice (I think) and no changes took effect. Recharged my iPod all night, wake up and there's this beauty surprising me. Kinda sucks that I had to take off all my music via MediaMonkey (since it uses the iPod's OS) and resupply it, but Windows Explorer is so much easier to use than that garbage that I don't even care.

Seriously, it looks so good, I've got a massive broner right now.

I'm now Apple OSX / iTunes free! THIS IS SO LIBERATING.
 
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